Where’s Lettuce (Marouli) and where’s the Rag (Koureli)?
The Mainland and island Greece are full of Greek villages, either small or large. Some of them have very common names which we see them also in other parts of the country. Like, for example, Helliniko, Platanos, Pigi, Karyes, etc. However, exploring Greece you can discover names of villages that you do not even imagine that exist. Other strange and others a little funnier, all together compose the beauty of the Greek region. They have their own story, and each of them may have something even weirder to tell you. The stories of the inhabitants about the history of each place also help in this …
We start from Ikaria and the village of Kuniadoi (the brothers-in-law)! It is one of the most well-known villages for holidays in Ikaria. One of the most isolated residential areas on the island which has a famous festival. it is unknown who the brothers-in-law were.
We are transported to Laconia and the village Kouremenos (the one who had his hair cut). A small village near Sparta that probably someone…who had freshly cut his hair was the one to whom the village was named after. Avli (courtyard) in the prefecture of Kavala but also in the prefecture of Heraklion which it once looked like a large courtyard and that is the reason the village was named like that.
A more delicious name has a village on the slopes of Tymphristos in Evritania as it is called Voutiro (butter)! Voutiro is a beautiful and well-groomed village with stone houses and a unique view that excites the visitor. It’s excites you from the moment you pronounce its name!
We stay in food and especially vegetables and go to the village of Marouli (lettuce)in the northwest Evia. It is a small and alternative settlement in the mountains of Evia for those who are looking to see how it is a genuine Greek village. In Andros, now, there is also a village called Koureli (rag). Its name does not represent, of course, its beauty.
Photo Source: andriakipress.gr
It is also strange the village of Kaimeno (poor) in Lassithi (Crete) and the Kaimeni Chora (poor country) in Methana. In Paxos, now, you will find the village Magazia (shops) and in Lassithi the village of Zou that we do not know where it comes from as a name. In Ilia, also, you may happen to pass through the village of Palouki (pole).In Rethymno the Genna (the birth),
With information from the Epitomus Geographical Dictionary of Greece by Michael Stamatelatos and Fotini Cotton Stamatelatos from the Hermes publications.
